Rise above
the mainstream narrative

If the best economic analysts have one
thing in common, it’s that they don’t
put much faith in the mumbo jumbo of
mainstream, textbook economics. They
benefit from independent thinking, and
so can you.

Follow along to discover…

Discover powerful
ideas from neglected
corners of the
economics and
investment worlds

The realistic “old-time” approach that modern economists foolishly abandoned

Ten rules that tell you which indicators
to ignore, which to watch closely, and
how to use them effectively

A “Hierarchy of Risks” that establishes the severity of economic imbalances

Surprising research showing where the biggest imbalances lie today

Change the way
that you think
about economic
risks

Blank line

By daring to be unconventional, you
can improve the decisions that drive your
investments, business, personal finances,
public policies, and more.

Economics for Independent Thinkers

Author: Daniel Nevins

Publisher: Wallace Press

Trim and format: 6 x 9 inch jacketed hardcover

Category: Economics/Business

Length: 320 pages

Blank line

Economics for Independent Thinkers undresses the ivory tower elite as it explains why the field of economics is stuck in a rut. But it also offers a way out. It binds together an assortment of unconventional ideas into a fresh set of tools for understanding the economy. It can add the crucial, missing perspective to your meetings with advisors, presentations at work, and conversations with friends or colleagues.

Blank line

“A profoundly insightful book that emphasizes the importance of credit and banks in business cycles, issues that are conveniently assumed away in most empirical macroeconomic models, including those used by central banks. Although a self-taught outsider with a remarkably broad knowledge of the intellectual history of economics, Nevins gives entirely new and different perspectives on the central policy issues of the day, including Keynesian stimulus and debt. Although many of the ideas here are parallel to ones at the cutting edge of modern research, Nevins’ analysis brings rare realism and sensibility, and his presentation is free of political dogma. Students struggling with the lack of realism in core Keynesian and classical models will find this book both richly informative and, frankly, cathartic. And it is written in an engaging and clear style that will be accessible to anyone.”
—Harvard University’s Kenneth Rogoff, coauthor of This Time is Different and author of The Curse of Cash

Here’s the jacket copy.

The vast majority of economists failed to foresee the economy’s twists and turns during recent decades. They didn’t believe a disaster as severe as the Global Financial Crisis could occur, nor did they expect the abnormally slow growth that followed. Those developments revealed fatal flaws in mainstream theory, and it’s not the first time theory has failed. But economists tell us not to worry. They claim they only need to add a few new dials to their models to make sure they won’t be blindsided again. After all, how could we evaluate the economy without their academic know-how and model-based advice?

Some laypeople happily accept economists’ explanations for why their models went wrong and how they claim to be fixing them. Economics for Independent Thinkers targets a different group—skeptics, realists, and other free thinkers who wonder if the profession has the right approach. This includes those who

were caught out by recent financial bubbles and, consequently, lost patience with academic “experts”;

would like to know what happened to the booming recoveries of years past;

wonder if policy makers have made the situation better or worse with new and extreme policies; or

simply seek a firmer grasp of economic risks.

Author Daniel Nevins invites readers to follow along on an irreverent journey from pie-in-the-sky theories to methods they can actually use. In place of the worn-out narratives of mainstream economics, he draws on a motley assortment of economics rebels. He binds together their most powerful ideas with lessons from thirty years of professional investing, revealing the neglected forces behind business, financial, and debt cycles.

Blank line

“[M]akes a great read for anyone that is remotely concerned with economic developments. . . . Nevins’ book should be on the reading list of most wealth management practitioners, particularly if they are not themselves trained economists.”
—Jean Brunel, editor of the Journal of Wealth Management and author of Goals-Based Wealth Management

Blank line

“Economics for Independent Thinkersprovides an economic framework for improving investment decisions.”
—Brenda Jubin, author of the Reading the Markets blog

Here are the table of contents and two full chapters.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Mainstream versus
Old-Time Economics

Blank line.

Blank line.

“Economics for Independent Thinkersis useful to practitioners who make economic forecasting part of their investment process. It highlights practical difficulties with such standard methods as the coincident or lagging nature of consumer confidence surveys and the time lags built into production and employment indicators. Readers may also appreciate Nevins’s enlivening of potentially dry subject matter with frequent pop culture allusions and analogies.”
—Lehmann, Livian, Fridson Advisors, LLC’s Martin Fridson, book review editor of the Financial Analysts Journal, coauthor of Financial Statement Analysis: A Practitioner’s Guide, and author of Unwarranted Intrusions

Blank line.

Here are short previews of other chapters.

Chapter 3

Wicksellians, Misesians,
and Minskyites

Chapter 5

A Few Pictures, with Talk:
The Six-Cycle Map

Chapter 6

Rules 1, 2, and 3

Chapter 8

Rule 4 and Lessons from
the Great Depression

Chapter 12

Rules 7 and 8

Chapter 13

What's in an
Economic Checkup?

Chapter 15

One Soup Recipe to Consider

Chapter 16

Black Swan Excuses, Part 1

Chapter 17

Black Swan Excuses, Part 2

Chapter 18

More Pictures and Talk:
The Hierarchy of Risks

Chapter 20

Soldiers and Zealots

Notes

Blank line

Blank line

“I strongly recommend Nevins’ book for a no-nonsense approach to economics. Traditional textbooks tend to ignore moral hazard problems that occur in the real world, but Nevins’ book tackles these problems head on. For example, the credit cycle (that produced winners and losers) and the general misconceptions of the government’s role in getting the U.S. out of the Great Depression (rather, government policies delayed recovery and extended the Depression longer than it should have taken for a recovery). . . . Highly recommend for the casual economics sleuth or even as a supporting economics or finance textbook.”
—George Mason University’s Anthony Sanders, author of the Confounded Interest blog

Blank line

Ordering information

To order Economics for Independent Thinkers on Amazon, please use the link below. NOTE: Amazon doesn’t ship the book outside the United States and Canada. If you live outside the U.S. and Canada, please use the second option below—direct ordering via PayPal.

To order Economics for Independent Thinkers directly from Wallace Press via PayPal (recommended if you live outside the United States), please use the link below, .

For bulk and other special orders, please contact us directly at the following email address: queries at sign the name of this website dot com.

DANIEL NEVINS, CFA, has invested professionally for thirty years, including more than a decade at both J.P. Morgan and SEI Investments. He is perhaps best known for his behavioral economics research, which was included in the curriculum for the Chartered Financial Analyst® program and earned him recognition as one of the founders of goals-based investing. He has an economics degree from the Wharton School of Business and a degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering school.blank text blank text blank text blank text blank text blank text blank text blank text blank text

For interviews, consulting requests, or other queries, please use the following email address: queries at sign the name of this website dot com